Laoshe's Rickshaw Boy is a classic of classics. On April 13 we will show the movie adaption of Rickshaw Boy from 1982 by the director Ling Zifeng. The movie will as always start with a drink and 30 minutes introduction.

This story of utter hopelessness at the bottom of Beijing society is imbedded into the very idea of China before the communist liberation in 1949. “Rickshaw Boy” is often viewed as a depiction of old Beijing, but the story is better understood as a portrait of the time where China was in limbo between dynasty and republic. We follow the rickshaw puller Xiangzi and his struggles at the very bottom of soceity. Through Xiangzi Laoshe masterfully gives a voice to the common man. Rickshaws only existed in the streets of Beijing for a fairly limited time between 1900 and 1949, but they were vehicles of change as they would speed up the pace life and provide jobs for tenth of thousands of people that were struggling to provide for themselves not unlike the Kuaidi couriers of today. "Rickshaw Boy" was first published in 1937 and after it was translated to English the book earned Laoshe an international breakthrough that would make him the most famous Chinese writer outside China in the 1940s.

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Where to start: Beijing Postcards, No. 97 Yangmeizhu Street (杨梅竹斜街97号)

Cost: 150RMB/person